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Paying his last respects to his former student, a Nigerian immigrant
By adamg on Tue, 01/23/2018 - 6:15pm
Paul Friedmann, a teacher at the Brooke Charter School in Roslindale, was among the people who crowded the Wesley United Methodist Church in Dorchester on Saturday for the funeral for Tiffany Obi, 20, whom he taught at the Brooke School before she went onto Boston Latin and UMass Lowell.
He recounts his sadness at her death from asthma - and his anger at the current president. Tiffany was an immigrant from Nigeria, one of those countries filled with people the son of an immigrant currently in the White House hates.
Thing is: the people I saw today, praying to Jesus under an American flag, are the epitome of what makes our nation good. Their love, their dedication, their compassion, their kindness, their hard work and their selflessness are EXACTLY who should be invited here with open arms.
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Comments
“Nigeria, one of those
“Nigeria, one of those countries filled with people the son of an immigrant currently in the White House hates.”
The president HATES Nigerians?
Yes, he does
He referred to all of Africa with the sort of epithet you'd expect from a racist like him. It was in all the papers.
I’ve read all about it. If
I’ve read all about it. If anything it sounds more like pity than hate.
Doesn't pity usually come
Doesn't pity usually come with compassion?
No. His policies and rhetoric do not support the pity argument
He said he didn't want those people coming here. He didn't say "Those folks have it rough, let's give them a chance." Both his policies (as much as he has anything resembling a platform) and his rhetoric are anti immigrant, except apparently for Norway.
Austria
Austria is getting fed up with Nigerian immigrants.
80 percent of all drug arrests in Austria are Nigerian immigrants.
https://www.news.at/a/smg-novelle-ende-oeffentlicher-drogenhandel-6382138
Apparently Some Africans Feel Differently
The Ugandan Leader does at least...
http://www.newsweek.com/i-love-trump-says-ugandan-leader-praising-presid...
Because we should listen to a
Because we should listen to a man who seized power through a military coup and has held it for over 30 years by arresting his political opponents and having his government seize control of newspapers. Maybe, just maybe, he likes keeping people under his thumb rather than letting them emigrate to the US, where they can work hard, gain power, and expose his corruption from a free society.
Please stay on your own planet
Or move south or otherwise get some freaking clues.
Why would I move south?
Clues? There is no quote I’ve seen or any references to “hate”. Please cite them
Naw
Not worth bothering. You just made it clear that you are unable to process anything factual.
Have I? Then stop commenting
Have I? Then stop commenting on my posts.
I think she was saying you
I think she was saying you should move to a shithole area, like someplace south of the border.
Yeah, like
Someplace like Cranston RI. South of the border and a Sh!thole area...
How about you take your own medicine?
When you see "Trump", move on and don't read it?
Why? I’m having a
Why? I’m having a conversation, not trying to censor people or have their accounts removed. (If this is the same anon)
He didn't use the word "hate"
He didn't use the word "hate", but he did say that he didn't want to accept any immigrants from those "shithole" countries. Whether he was referring to the governments of those countries or the people themselves, I do not know. But basically he was saying that no one from those countries is worthy of coming here. That's a pretty outrageous statement.
I deleted a comment from a registered user
Maybe it's because this is sort of personal for me - I didn't know Tiffany, but my daughter did, and went to her visitation. Or maybe it's because I'm getting tired of the racist, sexist crap I'm seeing on UHub. But I've about reached my limit.
Good
There are not good people on 'both sides' on the topic of racism.
Your House
It's your house and that is fine.
The link is about the teacher badmouthing Trump, Had it been about the girl, I would have backed off.
I apologize, I was focused on
I apologize, I was focused on verbiage instead of the fact that a young woman lost her life. May she Rest In Peace. Thoughts are with her family and friends.
Thank you
Mostly I spend my time here snarking at people for saying silly things, but I appreciate that you had the decency to walk back your comments after reading what people had to say.
Thank you
For making UHub one of the few places I read comments. I know from experience that moderating is a heavy burden and can be painful and angering.
Your daughter has my condolences.
I’ll say this much
I clicked the link and read the tweets. It’s sad any time parents have to bury a child. Their daughter sounded like a great kid, so while those who knew her should be happy to have known her, we all lost something with her passing.
That said, why make it about Trump? I could go into more depth on my thoughts, but that moves us further from the sad passing of this girl. And that’s my point.
Why it is about Trump
In full disclosure, I am the wife of the writer of the original tweet thread. We also work together. I taught Tiffany and also taught her older brother for 2 years. My husband and I have taught dozens of Nigerian families over the years. What I saw at Tiffany's service explains much of what I have experienced with Nigerian families. I saw a community that was so incredibly supportive of each other. I saw love and kindness. There were more people than there were seats, but the church leadership was scurrying to find more chairs. We got up to give our seats to an older woman and she wouldn't let us. She was hosting us and wanted us to be comfortable. Every family who spoke said things about how the families had supported each other in times of need and how the encouraged each other to pursue religion and schooling. It explains why the students who are of Nigerian descent that I have taught have been unusually hard working, focused, positive and always kind. I have watched two particular family learn that their children have some significant learning challenges and respond by talking about just working harder and never giving up. There was no sadness, just a commitment to do everything they can to support their kids. Every Nigerian family I could think of has achieved remarkable levels of success. I am a better person for knowing them
And as I was sitting there, I couldn't help but think that Trump wouldn't have wanted Tiffany, her family and most of the people in that church to be in our country. For me, it was not even the shocking designation of "shithole countries" in the world because we do know that many immigrants are escaping conditions that are unlivable. It was what followed. He said he didn't want people from those struggling countries. The underlying sentiment is that the people from struggling countries are not good enough and will not add to our country. First of all, this statement lacks any compassion, but I also find the underlying assumption to be patently false. And my sense that Trump's assumptions are wrong was so very heightened on Saturday in that church.
You make good points
And what has amazed me about this "outrage" is that no one has made the argument that places like Haiti, El Salvador, and parts of Africa are in such a bad state (or "shitholes" if you will) that in fact we should be helping these people out, which is a better response to Trump's alleged statements. The relative success of Nigerians in the United States specifically is the argument that we should be encouraging immigration from these areas since those who come here by and large work hard and love America (while retaining a love of their ethnicity and a wistful fondness of their place of birth.)
Still, you don't change hearts by demonizing the opposition. The vast majority of immigrants are good people and the majority of those who are seemingly "anti-immigrant" just want the nation's immigration laws enforced. It constantly kills me that there hasn't been a middle ground found in the decade that this issue has been discussed.
I'll bite.
Calling any country a "shithole" is never okay. You guys may not have been bothered by the use of that word, but Haitians, El Salvadoreans, Africans, etc. were offended. It's hateful. I'm Asian, but I've got family that used to live in or currently live in various parts of Africa and my husband is Haitian. I can assure you they were all irate at the Orange guy's comment.
Please spare us the innocent "we just want laws enforced" argument when those people want to make it harder and harder for POC to emigrate to this country. Please spare us the "we just want laws enforced" argument when American immigration laws have been inherently racist for the majority of its history. In fact, my people were barred from entering the US for the majority of this country's history as we were deemed inferior. Orange guy's comments demonstrate that there's people in this country who deem some (i.e. Norwegians) as more worthy and others.
Spare us to argument that "merit-based" immigration will solve everything. What does that even mean? Who's going to take over the farming and seasonal jobs? Newsflash: They bring in migrant workers because there's not enough Americans who want these jobs.
Racists deserve to be demonized, not pampered.
Let me put it to you this way
When my dad left Ireland in the 1950s, the country was a shithole. Full of nice people, and those who fled always had a fondness for it, but it was a shithole that was hemorrhaging people.
Also, are you saying that under the current immigration laws, Asians are not allowed in this country?
But sure, let's have a rational conversation about immigration.
Really, dude?
Did she say that? Did she? Hmm, let me look closely for those words or anything even closely resembling them. NOPE!
Waquoit, stop. You keep acting as a disingenuous apologist for this bullshit and it's pathetic. It makes you look like a particularly stupid racist. Just stop.
“Waquoit, stop. You keep
“Waquoit, stop. You keep acting as a disingenuous apologist for this bullshit and it's pathetic. It makes you look like a particularly stupid racist. Just stop.”
Apologist and racist? How do his posts make him look racist? Just bc you don’t like what someone says, doesn’t make them a racist.
Let's go to the tape, shall we
First, look at anything I said in this thread other than my response to eyeroll. Anything make me look racist? Anything? Why not quote me.
Meanwhile, the roller said
My feeling is that we should be talking about our current immigration laws. That eyeroll won't note that there was a change with the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which has lead to a shift in immigration from Europe to Latin America, Africa, and yes Asia, is on her.
Or, of course, we can all just ponder this young woman's contributions to us in her short life and be sad that she was taken from us.
Waquiot lacks reading comprehension skills.
No one in my family would be here if it wasn't for the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. My point still stands that for the majority of American history, US Immigration policy has been against us. I never said nor implied that we're still barred because that would be false.
You reveal your racism by defending the Orange guy's shithole comment. That you think your father's homeland is a shitthole just shows that you're sad and pathetic. I feel sorry for your father.
Any discussion of policy that doesn't also reflect on past policies is shallow and lacking. In order to progress, you have to face the past as well. I did make forward looking statements, but you chose to ignore those. You're interested in meaningless rhetoric, not actual reform.
Question
Since I referred to Ireland in the 1950s as being a shithole, does that make me racist against white people?
It makes you...
...a disingenuous person with a knack for backpedaling and whatabouting when you're called out.
But you know what amazes me
I made a comment noting how great immigration is, but somehow I’m against immigrants.
No dice
You think immigration *with rules* is a great thing.
Rules make rule breakers feeeeeeel bad. Can't have that.
I missed that
What were his exact words?
Hard to tell...
...because some who were present are apparently conveniently forgetting what was said. We call it the Ronald Reagan defense.
Given this RUs reign of terror of late
Some of us would far rather you just delete their account.
How often do we have to put up with entire posts poisoned with racism and insecure masculinity lashing out?
So as your paying respects
You start thinking about hating the President.
You might just be looking for a berevement day.
Not just thinking about
The article *started* and finished with a paragraph about the president. The middle was about the president too.
The tweets *started* with a political jab about the president and finished with a tweet about the president. The middle tweets were about the president too.
This is all about the president with a mention of the passing of a young girl.
I started reading this in an
I started reading this in an attempt to understand what this girl's passing had to do with the president. I'm still trying to understand. The turn this took was a stretch, to be honest, and classless to given the subject matter. I cringed at how this girl's passing is being used to make a political statement. We're educated people. We can do better. May she rest in peace.
I suspect nothing will change your mind
But see Allison F's comment above.
I saw that. Thanks though,
I saw that. Thanks though, adam. Here's the thing - using such a sad and private event to air your political views is not only narcissistic, it's simply not helpful. Do I mind that the president said some countries are shitholes? No. I wish he could have used a more educated term but I prefer a president who talks this way about things that are not American compared to a president who calls its citizens "basket of deplorables". Eyeroll says here that "Haitians, El Salvadoreans, Africans" were offended by the president's words but I guess his and other's sense of outrage doesn't extend to their fellow citizens being called names by someone who wants to be their president? This isn't hard - being civil to one another - but the mob mentality displayed nowadays to justify their own bad behavior isn't helping. There's plenty of blame to go around. And I think when you get called out on using a private life event like a funeral to air your political views, you should man up, admit it was in poor taste and try to do better next time.